Display cabinet



F; HOWARD DISPLAY CABINET Oct. 7, 1969 Filed Aug. 15, 1967 Y 1 m 0 8 a w5w e Q N a R .w. a lb W2 m w Wm 2 m 0 a wT 4 AS 2 5 m Z Fmh w 2 I VQ MAM United States Patent York Filed Aug. 15, 1967, Ser. No. 660,719 Int.Cl. A47f 3/06 US. Cl. 312122 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Adisplay cabinet is provided having downwardly and rearwardly inclinedshelves mounted on linear ball bearings to slide in a cabinet frame. Toretain the shelf in its extended position for removal or replacement ofmerchandise on the shelf one of the races of at least one of the ballbearings is provided near one of its ends with a recess and isresiliently urged towards the adjacent race, so that as the shelf isextended, one of the balls enters the recess and forms a detent to holdthe shelf until it is to be returned to its initial closed position. Toexpand the capacity of the shelf, the linear ball bearings arepreferably no thicker than the thickness of the shelf member The shelfhas at each of its lateral ends a sheet metal plate or extensionoverlying the respective ball bearings and terminating in an upwardlyextending portion close to the frame, said portion serving to keep themerchandise from contacting on the frame.

Summary The invention provides a display cabinet having inclinedslidable shelves supported and guided by linear ball bearings, theshelves inclined downwardly and rearwardly so that they tend to returnto the closed position [by gravity, and yet may be easily pulled out forremoval or replacement of merchandise on the shelf. Easily re leaseddetent means are also provided, preferably as part of the ball bearingassembly so that the shelf is lightly held in its extended position, andyet may be easily returned to its closed position. Preferably, one ormore of the shelves have the ball bearings mounted at the lateral endsof the shelf, which bearings are no thicker than the thickness of theshelf, and the bearings are mounted on the vertical upright side framemembers of the cabinet, while the shelf is provided at each lateral endwith a sheet metal extension having an upturned portion close to theframe member, thereby extending the surface area of the shelf proper andexpanding the capacity of the cabinet as a whole, while preventing themerchandise on the shelf from rubbing on the adjacent frame member.

Brief description of the drawings FIGURE 1 is a perspective view of adisplay cabinet in accordance with the present invention;

FIGURE 2 is a vertical cross section of the cabinet shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary front elevation, partly in section of thedisplay cabinet shown in FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 4 is a longitudinal section on an enlarged scale taken on theline 44 of FIGURE 3;

FIGURE 5 is a fragmentary top plan view, partly in section taken alongthe line 55 of FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 6-6 of FIGURE4;

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary sectional view taken on the line 7-7 of FIGURE4;

FIGURE 8 is a fragmentary sectional view, taken on the line 8-8 ofFIGURE 9, and showing the linear ball bearing and associated parts in afully extended position; and

3,471,209 Patented Oct. 7, 1969 FIGURE 9 is a fragmentary sectional viewtaken on the line 9-9 of FIGURE 8.

Description of the preferred embodiment Referring now in detail to thepresent preferred and illustrative embodiment of the invention, thedisplay cabinet comprises two upright side frame members 10, a backmember 12, and a bottom front panel 14 and a top fixed shelf 16, allpermanently connected together to form a rectangular cabinet.

One or more sliding shelves 18 are provided within the cabinet, and areinclined downwardly and rearwardly at a slight angle to the horizontal,and preferably parallel with the fixed top shelf member 16. Shelf 18 isslidably mounted by means of linear ball bearing assemblies one ateither lateral end of the shelf, the bearing assemblies 20 being carriedby support means or elongated angle brackets 22 fixed to the inner faceof the upright frame members 10. The ball bearing assemblies arepreferably no thicker than the thickness of the shelf 18 and extendsubstantially from front to back of the shelf. The shelf is supportedand fixed to the ball bearing assemblies, each of the lateral shelf endsbeing extended by means of an elongated sheet metal extension 24 whichis secured to the under side of the shelf 18, extends upwardly andoutwardly towards the side frame 10 and then upwardly a short distanceso as to completely cover the ball bearing assembly and substantiallyconceal the same. Each horizontal extension portion 26 increases theload capacity of the shelf 18, while the upturned edge or rim 28 servesto contain the merchandise on the shelf, to prevent it rubbing on theframe as the shelf is slid back and forth and thus defines the enlargedusable shelf area.

Heretofore, sliding shelves in display cabinets have had the slidingbearing or slidable shelf support located beneath the shelf therebyoccupying a great deal of space between adjacent shelves, which spacediminishes the amount of merchandise that can be stored on a given totalshelf area of a cabinet.

The linear ball bearing assemblies used in the present shelf structureare shown in detail in FIGURES 4 to 9 and comprise an outer elongatedgenerally U-shaped sheet metal trough member 30 formed withlongitudinally extending grooves 32 in the leg portions of member 30,facing each other to serve as raceways for the balls of the bearing.Within trough member 30 is tucked a similar but smaller inner generallyU-shaped metal trough member 34 also formed with longitudinallyextending raceways forming grooves 36 which complement raceways 32 forthe bearing balls. The spacing of the grooves or raceways 32 and 36 issuch as to accommodate the bearing balls 40 and to allow them to runfreely as the members 30 and 34 are moved longitudinally with respect toeach other form fully telescoped or initial position to fully expandedor extended position. The members 30 and 34 are made of relatively lightgauge metal so that the side members carrying the grooves 32, 36 have aconsiderable degree of resiliency. Nested between the two trough members30 and 34 is a third trough member 38 which is provided on each of itslegs with a plurality of openings in which the balls 40 are seated, thismember serving as a sliding ball cage to maintain proper spacing of theballs as they roll in their raceways. The third trough member 38 ispreferably relatively short so as not to unduly limit the telescopicextension of the bearing assembly, and it is usually suflicient toprovide for onl about eight balls 40, as shown. As the shelf 18 ispulled out, the upper race forming member 34 moves with the shelf, theball cage 38 moves at half speed, while the lower race member 30 viabracket 22 remains fixed on the side frame member 10.

Near its outer end, outer trough member 30 is bent slightly inwardlytowards its cooperating race and is provided with a small recess or hole42 into which one of the balls 40 can enter as the ball cage 38 moveswhen the shelf is fully in extended position. The resiliency of thetrough members 30 and 34 is such that the ball is lightly held in theposition shown in FIGURES 8 and 9, and yet can be easily released bypushing slightly on the outer edge of the shelf 18 to allow the shelf toroll back by gravity into its initial of closed position.

As shown in FIGURES 4, and 7, at the rear edge of the shelf 18, there isprovided a bumper to avoid slamming of the shelf as it returns to itsclosed position. A guide rod 50 is supported parallel to the outermember by means of brackets 52 and 54. Bracket 52 is fixed by a pin 56passing through the upstanding portions of the trough member 30, whilethe forward bracket 54 is riveted to the bottom portion of trough member30. Surrounding the rod 50 and freely slidable thereon is a lightcompression spring 58 and a washer 60, the washer engaging the rear edgeof U-shaped member 34 connected to shelf 18 when the shelf is in closedposition. Thus, as the shelf returns by gravity, it is snubbed byengagement of member 34 with washer 60 (see FIGS. 4 and 5) and broughtto rest without slamming by means of the guided Spring 58.

The invention in its broader aspects is not limited to the specificmechanisms shown and described but departures may be made therefromwithin the scope of the accompanying claims without departing from theprinciples of the invention and without sacrificing its chiefadvantages.

What is claimed is:

1. A display cabinet comprising in combination a downwardly andrearwardly inclined shelf which is displaceable from an initial positionto an extended position and vice versa, a frame in which the shelf issupported by ball bearings carried by the frame, each ball bearingcomprising a U-shaped inner member having a pair of first bearing ballraces located at its lateral opposite ends, a U-shaped external memberwhich has second bearing ball races facing said first ball races inopposed formation, bearing balls located in said races for rollingmovement therebetwen, an intermediate strip member extending betweensaid races and apertured to form cages for said bearing balls to seatthe latter and space the same from each other, at least one of saidraces of said ball bearings being provided with a ball receiving recessresiliently urged towards the adjacent opposed race, whereby, when oneof the bearing balls enters the recess in extended position of the shelfthe shelf is retained in said extended position against the return ofthe shelf by gravity to its initial position.

2. A cabinet according to claim 1, including buffer meansspring-supported in said U-shaped external member and defining saidinitial position of said shelf, said U-shaped inner member having aportion abutting said buffer means in said initial position of saiddisplaceable shelf.

3. A display cabinet according to claim 1, wherein the shelf proper haslateral ends each provided with a plate extension overlying therespective ball bearings and terminating in a rim portion substantiallyperpendicular to said plate extensions, whereby the usable shelf topsurface area is enlarged beyond the shelf proper.

4. In a slidable structure for a shelf and like carrier of a cabinet,which structure is equipped with first support means carrying a firstU-shaped member, second support means connected to a second U-shapedmember, said U-shaped members terminating in complementarily shapedopposite curved lateral ends, which form raceways between whichstrip-shaped cage means are located having spaced apart openings, whichretain and space ball elements from each other, which in assembledcondition of the structure are in rolling contact with said curvedlateral ends and afford slidable connection of said U-shaped memberswith each other; the improvements essentially characterized in that eachof said support means includes a cover portion arranged to extend,respectively, above and beneath said U-shaped members, thereby toconceal at least part of the latter in their assembled condition, saidsecond support means being shaped to mount thereon a shelf with the topsurface of the latter substantially flush with that of the correspondingcover portion, thereby to expand the usable shelf area, and that arecess is provided in one of said curved lateral ends near one extremityof one of said U-shaped members for elfectuating engagement of one ofsaid ball elements with said recess to function as a detent, thereby toreleasably stop sliding movement of said second U- shaped memberrelative to said first U-shaped member at said one extremity.

5. In a structure according to claim 4, wherein resilient bumper meansare arranged near the opposite extremity of the first U-shaped memberand confine said sliding movement in a direction away from said recess.

6. In a structure according to claim 4, wherein said cover portion ofsaid second support means has a rim portion projecting from said coverportion and substantially in perpendicular direction thereto.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 886,192 4/1908 De Canio 3123332,328,835 9/1943 Motter 312--333 2,534,350 12/1950 Gussack 3 l23402,564,658 8/1951 Jakeway 3l2343 2,624,094 1/ 1953 Smith 312340 3,022,1292/1962 Manson 312-343 CASMIR A. NUNBERG, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R.

